This invention relates to integrated circuit boards, and, more particularly, to an integrated circuit board system which allows altering the position of a particular board without changing boards or rewiring a particular board.
In integrated circuit board systems a plurality of boards are inserted into plug-in connectors, which provide electrical power and logic connections with a system to be controlled and with other logic boards. To achieve high systems availability each board must be spared, i.e., a second board identical to each board in operation must be kept readily available for replacement should any particular board fail. This sparing requirement adds substantially to system cost, since a separate set of boards must be purchased and stored in a catalog storage, so that upon failure of any operating board a substitute board may be readily inserted into the system, so that the entire system does not have to be shut down while a duplicate board is manufactured or obtained from a vendor.
A system in which some functions are contained upon a mother printed circuit board and other functions are contained upon a daughter printed circuit board is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,741, issued Aug. 13, 1974 to Athey. In the Athey patent a mother board includes a connector into which a daughter board having circuit elements thereon is inserted. Each daughter board is provided with a distinct connection mechanism, and each daughter board is a custom configuration with circuit elements thereon to provide complete functions to the mother board. Each daughter board has its unique engineering, manufacturing and servicing requirements determined by the circuit elements and functions included thereon.